“Dear Davie:
“When you receive this I may not be among the living; for suspicion and doubts of my loyalty to German interests at last have put the hounds of their secret service on my track. I have a foreboding as I begin this paper, that possibly I may never see you again in this life, and I can not let this chance pass without justifying my course to you. I would love to clasp your hand once more and die—if I must—under the Stars and Stripes.
“I am concealing this in Jack’s saddle, in the hope that it will come to your hands, and that you will understand my former message written with a purpose to deceive the enemy, and give to them a belief that I am loyal to their cause, though I have plotted for your escape. I think that you will understand.
“I know that your heart, dear David, has been torn with doubts of my loyalty, by evidences that have come to you.
“Before we had landed in France, your colonel had shown me the necessity of self-sacrifice, by presenting to me the needs of the secret service in France, and of my opportunity to render great service by appearing to serve the German cause. My brother, whom he knew, was already in that service; for whatever might be his faults, he loved the dear old flag and its cause. The strong resemblance between us suggested to him greater opportunities, by our working together, in obtaining information much needed by the Allies, of the German war plans.
“With this in view, and to give the enemy greater confidence in him, information of great seeming value was, by consent of the French, given him to convey to the Germans. Then he told the head of the German secret service, that he had a brother through whom he had gained the important information which he had given to them. The Germans, meanwhile, knew that he professed when in the Allied lines to be a spy for them. Adolph also suggested that I be encouraged to desert to the German lines. But the hard-headed chief of their secret service thought I could serve them better by remaining where I was. It was not until he had convinced them that I was in danger of arrest, and that the Americans might obtain information from me that would impair my brother’s usefulness as an agent of their secret service, that they consented to his plans.
“It was a bitter thing for me to leave you to believe that I was a traitor, and I did not take the course I did until convinced that it was needful for General Foch to have more intimate knowledge of the situation of the German troops on the southern front.
“I had promised my mother to be unswervingly loyal to the flag of my country. My father had been an officer of the Confederate service, and after the surrender had come North. Her constant admonition to me was to be true under all circumstances, to the flag of my country and be worthy of being called ‘Jed’s boy.’
“The thought of using Muddy in furtherance of my designs had long been planned, but my scheme for using Jack was not conceived until after I found that I could buy him, and had tested his wonderful intelligence for that service.
“The enemy was led to believe that others high in the confidence of the American commander were willing to assist in my treason and, among them, Colonel Burbank; and thus I was able to carry out my plan of deception. I never, however, trusted them with the knowledge that Jack was carrying messages without a rider. The colonel’s messages to me were seemingly disloyal, but by previous arrangement of a code, they bore a different meaning to me; and the real information received by the enemy, by his communications, were only those agreed upon by high military Allied officers.